Not much depth behind Middlebrooks at third base

BOSTON -- It was unknown at the end of the game Tuesday how serious the injury to Will Middlebrooks was. But it was easy to see how vulnerable the Red Sox have left themselves in the event Middlebrooks has to miss significant time.

BOSTON -- It was unknown at the end of the game Tuesday how serious the injury to Will Middlebrooks was. But it was easy to see how vulnerable the Red Sox have left themselves in the event Middlebrooks has to miss significant time.

Though Middlebrooks left the game hitting .192 with a .228 on-base percentage, he remains the best option the Red Sox have at third base -- and there is no real backup plan. The two errors Pedro Ciriaco committed in the eighth inning after Middlebrooks left the game only drove the point home. A team that built tremendous depth in the starting rotation, in the outfield, at catcher and even at first base has next to no depth behind Middlebrooks at third.

(There's a reason the Red Sox have been so patient while Middlebrooks has struggled at the plate, and it's not just because they believe his long-term potential.)

Ciriaco made the Red Sox roster as a utility infielder, but he spent the first six seasons of his professional career playing either shortstop or second base. He'd only played four minor-league games at third base before the Middlebrooks-less Red Sox made him their regular third baseman in the final two months last season.

If Middlebrooks has to miss time, Ciriaco isn't the answer.

But there isn't a clear alternative at Triple-A Pawtucket, either.

The primary backup normally would be switch-hitting utilityman Drew Sutton, who has played 19 games at third base for the PawSox. But Sutton is on the disabled list with a strained oblique -- and even if he wasn't, his work at third base in spring training could be described generously as adventurous.

Other than Sutton, the Pawtucket infield is populated by imperfect solutions. Justin Henry played 37 games at third base at Triple-A Toledo last year, but he's seen far more time at second base or in the outfield. Brandon Snyder has an OPS over 1.000 for the PawSox, but he's almost exclusively a first baseman. He's never played more than 16 games at third base in a single season.

Brock Holt was acquired from Pittsburgh in the Joel Hanrahan trade with the idea that he could contribute as a utilityman, but he's played all of one game at third base in his minor-league career.

The best option for the Red Sox might be to ask Stephen Drew to move to third base and to call up Jose Iglesias to play shortstop -- though Iglesias hasn't played for Pawtucket since Saturday for reasons that are not altogether clear.

Drew has never played a position other than shortstop in his professional career.